Mousey Monday – Checkers Speech

Happy Mousey Monday to our Cache and Cookies readers!! On this Day in 1952 was the deliverance of Vice Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon’s infamous Checkers Speech.

Senator Nixon was accused of secretly accepting money from wealthy donors. The speech took an offensive stance hoping to appeal to the American public, showing the American public his and his family’s frugal lifestyle. His appeal worked!

Discovery Education has a 30 minute full video titled Senator Nixon’s Checkers Speech September 23, 1952 for you to share with your students in the classroom. The full video also includes a Speech Guide to prepare teachers for the lesson as well as the Speech Transcript for students to follow along.

A great way to use the full video and Speech Transcript would be to have students:

1. Critique the speech.

2. Write their own versions of the speech.

3. Analyze the speech to see what made it so successful.

Please feel free to reach out to us with any comments or feedback @DESupportStars! We would love to know how you used video and instructional materials in your classroom! Happy Mousey Monday readers!